Starmorphs
by All4thebasilisk
Summary: Basically, Star WarsAnimorphs crossover. It's gonna be really weird! Please RR.
1. Into the Void

JAKE

We were flying. Soaring above the oceans and beach, not a care in our minds. Why would we? The Yeerks were being unusually quiet, and not one mission had come up in weeks. Of course, we hoped that the Yeerks had left our town, but as Marco put it, hope was just another word for wishful thinking. But we could still relax for now.

Rachel's sleek Baldy flew about two hundred or so yards ahead, and Cassie's osprey was five hundred feet above her. I was below, and Ax brought up the rear. Marco and Tobias weren't with us; Marco was helping out his Dad, and we hadn't been able to find Tobias that morning.

Actually, we were all secretly worried about Tobias. He hadn't been hanging with us so much, and was spending more and more time alone, flying to faraway places. He was avoiding us often, and changed the subject when we brought up his strange behavior.

In fact, ever since Taylor nearly tortured him to death, he hadn't been himself.

Ready for a race, cousin? Rachel asked in thought-speech.

As I'll ever be, I replied.

We shot off simultaneously. I was faster, but Rachel had had a head start and she also had better lift. It was getting to be close when she shot over a dumpster and stopped short. I zipped past her, unable to stop. When I finally pulled out of my dive, I went back to Rachel's Dumpster, where she, Cassie and Ax were now perched.

What is it? I asked.

Ax cocked his head toward me. I believe that it is a black hole. 

I felt a sinking feeling. I thought that black holes were only in space. 

Ax's harrier eyes seemed to convey the same dread that I now felt. So did I. 

But how is this possible? Cassie wondered.

Now Ax was getting frustrated. I do not know. However, this strange whirlpool inside of the Dumpster is projecting electromagnetic waves similar to those in black holes. It can only be a black hole. 

I looked at Rachel. Go get Marco. 

When she was gone, we demorphed and Ax remorphed to human. Then we settled down in an alley nearby and waited for the others.

Suddenly, a familiar red-tailed hawk zipped by, along with a Cooper's Hawk.

"Tobias!" Cassie gasped.

The other hawk stopped short. Who's there? It snapped. Hearing no reply, the two birds raced downwards, right into the Dumpster. I jumped up and ran to the Dumpster. It was empty, but the black hole at the bottom roiled, much like when water in the sink does when you unplug the drain.

"He went inside," Cassie said in hushed voice. At that moment, I was ready to slap her. Why was she stating the obvious? Why wasn't she preparing to take action?

I guess she saw the look on my face, because she shut up. I wasn't bothered because I hurt her. I had more important things to do than comfort my "girlfriend".

Rachel and Marco arrived then. We filled them in on what had happened, and then took a quick vote. It was unanimous, of course; we would follow Tobias and the other hawk.

Rachel was first. She hoisted herself into the Dumpster, and for a second, hung on to the side. Then she let go and was pulled in.

Marco and Ax both morphed bird and dove in a moment later.

Only Cassie and I were left. I felt bad about hurting her, and quickly apologized. She seemed appeased as she climbed into the black hole.

Now it was my turn. I had decided to go as human, so I clambered into the Dumpster. I wasn't quite ready to let go, though suction was pulling me in. Then I suddenly saw a face poke over the edge of the Dumpster. An _Andalite_ face. I forgot to hold on in my fear, and let go as Visser Three's voice suddenly roared in my mind.

Then a black calm enveloped my mind, and I was lost.

A/N: OK, that was weird; not quite how I expected it to turn out, but my stories tend to write themselves. I know it was a bit short, but it's past two AM here, and I'm too exhausted to write more. Anyhow, please review! I really must know if this story is as odd as my sister claims that it is! Also write if I messed up on anything; feedback is appreciated!

This fic takes place between books 34 and 35!

Disclaimer: To my utter sorrow and despair, I do not own either series. K. A. Applegate owns Animorphs, as does anyone she's sold rights to. Star Wars is owned by Lucasbooks.


	2. Visitor to the Maw

MARA

It was an unusually sunny afternoon, two weeks after Ben had been born. Leia and Han had just returned to Coruscant, and Luke, Ben, and I traveled to the Maw. Jaina was with us, and Anakin had promised to come by soon. Although the Vong were still active and dangerous, we allowed ourselves to relax for a bit.

Actually, we had still been working actively behind the scenes. Luke continuously met with Triebakk and Cal Omas via the HoloNet, planning a way to turn the New Republic's favor toward us Jedi. I helped Leia plan offensives against Chief-Of-State Borsk Fey'lya. All in all, we were really fighting against a more immediate enemy- the New Republic's bureaucracy.

But today, there would be no politics. Just two Jedi, their niece, and their newborn son having a peaceful time without Yuuzhan Vong interference. Or any problems whatsoever…

"Mara! Mara! Wake up!" Luke shook me vigorously and I was jolted out of my much-needed slumber.

"Unh? Luke? What is it?" I asked groggily.

He lowered his voice so as not to wake up Ben. "There's something going on near the edge of the Maw."

"How do you know?"

"I can feel it."

Now I could, too. A rift… some sort of disturbance taking place. I jumped up and thrust Ben into a bemused Jaina's arms.

"Watch him. We're going to check this out." She barely had time to nod before I had run into the docking bay, Luke right behind me.

Kam Solusar was leaning against the _Jade Sabre, _speaking to a technician. I nearly smashed into him. "We're taking my ship. There's a problem-" I waved my hand vaguely toward the other end of the Maw. "-There."

He moved away from the _Sabre _and motioned for us to go. I slid into the captain's seat and Luke took the copilot's chair. "I didn't realize that you were so desperate for action, Mara," he commented.

I grinned a fierce grin. "Neither did I."

We easily navigated through the Maw, using the Force. At the very edge, I froze. The disturbance in the Force was coming from a black hole nearby. Then two small ships shot out from the black hole!

"Impossible," Luke whispered. "Back holes don't spit anything out."

I nodded and focused on the ships. They were slowing down now, and without some really impressive aerial stunts, I would crash into them. I pulled up short and sent out a tractor beam. It locked on the brown ship, and I pulled it along as I maneuvered through the Maw.

When I reached base, Kam and Tionne were both waiting for us. We all examined the ship that I had gotten. It was tiny, perhaps a foot long and two feet wide. It also had an odd feathery feel to it. The front was hard, two claws protruded from the bottom, and it was freezing.

"What is it?" Jaina asked, coming up behind us.

"It appears to be a spaceship," Tionne told her.

Kam frowned. "Pretty small for a spaceship."

"Is it a Vong spy?" I wondered.

"Is it alive?" Jaina asked in a hushed tone.

This stopped all of us it our tracks. "If it's alive," Tionne pointed out, "we'd better warm it up. It feels like it's freezing!"

Luke quickly carried it into a nearby heated room. I lingered in the docking bay, trying to see if I could sense the other "thing." Then I felt someone call out to me with the Force.

_Do not worry, Mara Jade,_ an oddly familiar voice said. _The Animorph is in good hands._

And I was left there, alone; wondering, until Luke came back to get me.


	3. Stranded in Nowhere Land

MARCO

I shot out of the blackness, Ax right behind me. We were struck by the coldness almost instantly. It was a cold that seemed to seep through your bones, which would just utterly encompass you and slowly freeze you to death.

"Ax? You there?"

"Marco, I believe that the human term 'there' refers to a place in which we are not, rather than-"

I cut him off. "Is it just me, or is it totally freezing out here? "

"I, too, feel the coldness of this air. "

"Where are we, Z-Space? "

Ax actually laughed. "Of course not. Z-Space is white and empty, and we wouldn't be able to feel cold there. This is realspace somewhere. "

"The question is, where? " It was a query that neither of us could answer. I mean, how was I supposed to figure out where I was if I had been in a Dumpster a minute before? "I wonder where Tobias and Rachel ended up after flying into the black hole. "

"Actually, the creation you referred to as a 'black hole' is more commonly known as a white hole. A black hole is an area with such a strong gravitational pull that no matter or energy can escape from, whereas a white hole is a hypothetical region of space from which…"

I tuned out. I was slowly freezing to death, and I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life listening to Ax's unintelligible speeches. Then I saw something that jolted me out of my boredom.

"Look, Ax, a ship! "

I tried to turn, but my wings were frozen stiff. I gave up on moving and shouted in the loudest thought-speech that I could muster, "HELP! I'M TRAPPED AND DYING SO PLEASE HELP!"

To my utter relief, the ship turned.

Now that I could see it better, I noticed that it didn't look much like a ship; it was more like a big asteroid. But it was purple and moving towards us and I didn't really care about how it looked so long that it would save me and Ax and I wouldn't die.

Then the asteroid sent out some weird-looking bubble that enclosed Ax and me as it pulled us steadily into the ship.

When we finally landed inside, I saw two scowling aliens staring down at me. They poked and prodded Ax, and then me.

"Are they _Jeedai_?" a gruff voice asked. With the warmth that I now felt, I was able to slightly turn my neck and see another, more scarred alien. This one had one clawed foot and was accompanied by an alien who looked almost savvy and had a strange-looking eye, and another alien that was, well… indescribable.

She was a little bit on the small side and looked nothing like the others. Brightly colored blue, pink, and yellow feathers encompassed her body, and she had a certain avian look to her. Her features were sharp and knowing, and the creature was quite obviously one of a kind.

Tearing my eyes away from her was hard, but I was finally able to do so. "We're not, uh, _Jeedai_, whatever they are. We're Ani-" I bit my tongue. There was no telling how far away the Yeerks were from this place. I couldn't afford to reveal myself. I resorted to the old trick. "I'm Captain Picard of the Federation ship Enterprise, and this is Data. Unfortunately, we must return to our original bodies now. "

"A _Jeedai _trick, Warmaster," the guy with the weird eye growled. "We cannot allow this Captain to return to his original shape."

"And why not?" countered the feathered alien. "These creatures may or may not be lying, but either way they are our captives. Nom Anor is trying to dissuade you from your quest to collect more information about the Jedi in order to murder more for our great god Yun Yuuzhan."

"Vergere is right," the warmaster decided. "Captain Picard, you and Data may resume your former shapes."

"You wait, " I told Ax in private thought-speech. "I'll demorph first. Watch their reactions and decide whether or not to haul butt. "

"Yes, Marco. "

I demorphed, but to my surprise, rather than being repulsed by the morphing, they were fascinated.

"Is that painful?" The warmaster demanded as he watched Ax's demorphing with interest.

"Nope, well, only if you're watching Rachel go elephant and you see her trunk come bursting out of her otherwise totally hot face." I grimaced. "Now _that's_ painful."

Vergere watched me with narrowed eyes. "The two should be imprisoned now, Warmaster."

The warmaster looked almost regretful to see us go. "Of course." He addressed the two guards who had first found us. "Take them to the yammosk!" He suddenly smiled a hideous grin. "It will find out who our captives really are."

I shivered. Whatever this yammosk was, it sure didn't sound like an amusement park ride…

A/N: Whew! That was a long one! I've been working on it for an hour and a half already! Anyway, thanx to all those who reviewed! Thank you Brutal2003 for your input on black and white holes! I'm sorry if I didn't explain everything about Animorphs and Star Wars, but I figured that if you bothered to read this, you probably have a slight clue about what's going on!

Disclaimer: I think I 4got to put a disclaimer on Chapter 3, so this one counts 4 that one and all future chapters: To my utter sorrow and despair, I do not own either series. K. A. Applegate owns Animorphs, as does anyone she's sold rights to. Star Wars is owned by Lucasbooks.


	4. Stranger in the Night

A/N: From now on, I am going to put thought-speech in normal quotes! Half the convo from my last chapter was missing because the thought-speech wasn't uploaded!

Sorry if I don't write ur name when I reply to ur reviews; I can only be online at some points, and when I write the chapter, I don't have the names.

For all Star Wars movie fans, this fic will have maybe three ppl from the movies! This takes place during the New Jedi Order, in which a new species of aliens called the Yuuzhan Vong are attempting to take over the galaxy. At this point, they have destroyed the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, and the Jedi trainees have been evacuated to the Maw. For those who haven't even glanced at a SW book, Luke S. is married to Mara Jade, and they have an infant son, Ben; Han S. and Leia O. are also married with twin 19-yr-olds- Jacen and Jaina and a 16-yr-old son Anakin; and Chewbacca is dead. If u have any other questions, then send them!

Marco didn't realize that it was Star Wars because he only watched the movies, and Yuuzhan Vong show up years later. As for Jake, well, we'll find out…

Now, for the actual tale…

VALIN

I woke up with a start. Gisela was shaking me roughly, and had been doing so for a while, apparently.

"Vain," she hissed, "come with me."

I followed her blearily through the cool halls of the Maw. This wasn't the first time my sister had woken me up in the middle of the night for something "important", but she was usually right, so I had agreed to come with her on all of her escapades. When you're a nine-year-old Jedi trainee and your parents aren't within light-years from you, it's kind of a given that you and your sister are a team. But why did the younger half of our team have to be a night mynock?

"You know, Sella," I said conversationally, "just because Master Solusar is doing something, it doesn't mean that we have to be in the middle of it."

"Shhh!"

Now we had reached the docking bay, where a huddle of Jedi crowded around someone else. Then one of them sensed us and spun around. It was Master Skywalker.

"Valin and Jysella Horn! What are you doing here?"

"We couldn't sleep," I began timidly, "and we-"

Jysella cut me off. "Who is that!"

"That" was a beautiful, sleek alien. He had purple fur that covered his whole body, and had a humanoid upper body, with two stalk eyes, four hooves, no mouth, and a wicked-looking tail.

"Who is he?" I whispered.

One stalk eye swiveled toward me. "I am female, human," she said in a haughty voice that filled my mind. "My name is Aldrea-Iskilon-Fallan, and I am an Andalite. I was apparently turned in the wrong direction when I came here, because I usually end up on a planet called Kessel. I suppose I'm stranded here."

"Not quite," interjected Master Jade Skywalker. "We have some ships, and we could take you to Kessel, if that's where you want to be." She sounded doubtful at the thought.

"Hey," I said eagerly, "Why don't you stay here?"

Aldrea-Iskilon-Fallan looked down at me. "I came here with a companion. I must find him. He may already be on Kessel."

I'll take you," Master Jade Skywalker said.

"Can we come?" Jysella was ready for action.

Master Jade Skywalker smiled at her. "You two have your father's spirit. Corran would be proud of you."

So Jysella and I were permitted to come along to Kessel.

On the _Jade Shadow, _Master Skywalker was copilot, and the three of us were sent to the back.

"Umm, Aldrea-Iski…Iski…" I fumbled with the name.

"Just Aldrea," she told me.

"Yeah, whatever. Where are you from? The closest to you I've ever seen is a Jedi named Lusa, and she has horns instead of stalk eyes and no blade on her tail. Oh, and a mouth. How did you get here?"

"Well, I was supposed to be dead, and then the Arn carrying a vial with my spirit died. When Arn die, they leave a tear in space-time, and the person who found my vial, a bird named Tobias, passed through it. When we came out, we were here, and I was myself. We were moving at top speed, and entered Kessel's atmosphere. There, we met an alien named Nien Nunb who showed us around the mines of Kessel and took us back to where we started out. We passed through the tear in space-time, and returned to our home. Since then, we've visited your home many times. But this time…" She fell silent.

I moved away. I had the feeling that Aldrea wanted to be alone. Of course Jysella, being four, didn't understand this.

"Well, where are you from?"

"A different galaxy!" she snapped. "I'm not going to repeat my story again!"

Jysella backed away, looking scared. I put my arm around her.

"Okay, we're landing!" Master Jade Skywalker called out. "Aldrea, where do you usually end up when you fly here?"

"Near the administration building." She pointed it out.

"I read you," Mara said, landing just there.

A Sullustan hurried out of the building as we disembarked. "Masters Skywalker, this is an honor." Catching sight of our trio, he exclaimed, "Aldrea! I haven't seen you in a while! But… where's Tobias?"

Aldrea's eyes dimmed. "You mean he isn't here?"

One look at Nien Nunb's face told us the answer that we didn't want to hear.


	5. Fiction or Fact?

A/N: This chapter takes place on the capital world of Coruscant, and Viqi Shesh is a truly incredible (and more than slightly corrupt) senator. Rachel I assume you know. This chapter is mostly dialogue, but I promise more action next chapter! If you want, if you review this story before Thursday, write whom you want to narrate the next chapter, and I'll try to comply. Thanx!

Yes, Luke is married, and his wife is really cool! I guess you've been reading Young Jedi Knights only. They came out right before Timothy Zahn's duology, _Specter of the Past_ and _Vision of the Future,_ (which I highly recommend, btw) in which Luke proposes, so even though the Young Jedi Knight books take place after Luke and Mara marry, it doesn't mention it.

RACHEL

"And I'll need some more contacts," a voice was saying. "I can't just bribe my way into the Coruscantian underworld."

I kept my eyes closed and listened. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was climbing into a Dumpster and suction pulling me… somewhere. I had been speeding through an odd blackness and had just barely managed to slow down by twisting my head. Then, I had stopped short and continued on in a different direction. I barely recalled the cold of space and a ship pulling me into it. Then, I must have blacked out because my mind was blank.

"No, Warmaster, the human has not woken up. She is still unconscious," the voice continued. I heard a distant rumble that I guessed was the Warmaster's reply. "What do you mean, she's listening? Oh, of course, Warmaster. I'll go check on her."

Every fiber of my body was screaming to morph. But my brain told me that the best choice at the moment was to stay put, open my eyes, and try to charm this irritable voice.

"Hi," I said, opening my eyes. "I'm Rachel."

The woman walked toward me. She was exotic looking, and seemed almost aristocratic in bearing. She wore a long silk dress and a suspicious frown.

"Who are you?"

"Like I said, I'm Rachel."

She towered over me. "Names mean very little on this side of the galaxy. For all I know, you could be a Jedi, or a Vong spy sent to make sure I'm doing my job right."

"Jedi? That is soo Star Wars." I couldn't conceal my disgust. "Are you some kind of crackpot Star Wars nut convinced that Luke Skywalker's gonna show up any day now wielding a lightsaber and save the world?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'd prefer if you didn't call me a crackpot," the woman said coolly. "And besides, Luke Skywalker left Coruscant after Warmaster Lah called for the heads of all the Jedi."

I stared at her. "You really are nuts. Welcome to the real world, sorry, Darth Vader doesn't exist, Hayden Christensen does, unfortunately, and Star Wars fans are vanishing by the second."

"What is this 'Star Wars'?" she asked.

Now I couldn't conceal my disbelief. "You know, Jedi, Luke Skywalker, lightsabers, the whole spiel…"

"I don't know where you're from, Rachel, but on Coruscant, we don't refer to enemies like Skywalker as almost fictional."

"Um, Star Wars is fiction…Wait a minute. What do you mean 'where I come from'? We're all from Earth, after all."

"What is this Earth?"

"Hold on. You're not from a galaxy far, far away, are you?"

"You can't possibly mean that you don't live in this galaxy!"

I thought for a moment. Where had that Dumpster led? I didn't think that there were other humans on planets other than Earth, at least in our galaxy. And the woman spoke so casually about fiction as fact, it seemed unlikely that it really was fiction here. "I guess I do. Not live in this galaxy, I mean."

"Amazing," she breathed. "You're the only human I've ever seen from another galaxy." Her voice became crisp, businesslike. "Did you come with the Yuuzhan Vong?"

I shrugged. "Who the heck are the Vong?"

"They're a group of aliens trying to take over the galaxy." She had a crafty look on her face. "I work undercover with them. I'm a senator, and the government loves me."

"You mean you're a traitor."

"I prefer undercover messenger." A smile came onto her face. "The government- the New Republic- is falling apart anyway. I'd prefer to be winning with the Vong, rather than staying true to the NR and dying with it. 'Go with the flow', that's my motto. And at the moment, the flow is moving in the Vong's favor. Do you have a problem with this?"

I considered. Even though she was a traitor, and probably pure evil, she was the apparent winner, and if I was stranded in a weird galaxy alone, I was going to stay with the one person I now knew. There was just one problem. "Sure, I'm with you. But what's your name?"

She laughed. "Some politician I am. I completely forgot to tell you who I am! My name is Viqi Shesh. Are you ready to give me a hand in helping the Yuuzhan Vong, other-galaxy-girl?"

I managed a wan smile. "I'm ready when you are, nut-girl… Viqi."

"Then let's go," she grinned. "I have an appointment with a big gangster on this planet. Maybe you can use your other-galaxy diplomacy to help me out."

I winked. "Diplomacy isn't my best trait, but I'm sure I'll be a big help. You never know in what way my talents will show!" And I resolved to tell Viqi about my morphing power on the way.


	6. Refugees and Troubles

A/N: sorry this took so long! I've been sick for a while!

TAHIRI

"…So I finally came this way and saw you," I continued.

One of the humans stared at me. "You couldn't have seen us in outer space. You were in a ship."

I laughed. This girl obviously didn't know anything about Jedi. "I sensed you with something called the Force. It's something that binds all living things, and it controls our destiny."

The male had a funny look on his face, so I concentrated and tried to read him. All I got was a sense of vague familiarity.

"Do you know of the Jedi?" I asked him helpfully.

Then I was overloaded with realization. I concentrated hard and understood that this was his emotion.

"You're from Star Wars!" He blurted out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

The female began shakily, "That's what we call your world in our… galaxy."

Now it was my turn to stare. "You mean you're from a different galaxy?"

"It appears so." The girl still looked traumatized. She finally stuck out her hand. "I'm Cassie, and that's Jake."

I shook her hand. "Tahiri Veila. Piloting the ship is Anakin Solo."

"You mean Skywalker," Jake corrected me.

I raised my eyebrows. "No, I mean Solo. Anakin Skywalker's been dead for twenty-five years. Anakin is his grandson."

"Ah."

Then the ship shook. Anakin's head popped around the corner.

"We're being attacked! There are Yuuzhan Vong on all sides!"

I jumped up. "Is either of you a competent gunner?"

Jake nodded. "How can I help?"

"Take the upper gun port. I'll take the lower. Cassie… just stay here."

We raced to our stations. As I targeted ship after ship, I saw that Jake had been either lying or misinformed. He was far from competent… at least in this galaxy's standards. He just shot randomly at any part of the coralskippers, and therefore often missed. In fact, he had handicapped only one ship in the time that I had gotten four… and I was no gunner.

_Who is this kid_? Anakin asked me privately.

_He said his name was Jake. He's the male we picked up obviously._

_He needs to play more sims… wait! Help is coming!_

Now I sensed it too. Jaina Solo was not too far away, having just arrived from the Maw.

"Hey, little brother. I thought that you said you'd drop by sometime. I didn't know that you'd bring company." The Rogue Squadron pilot fired once, incapacitating a yammosk with her first shot. "Who do you have firing from your upper gun turret? Threepio?" She laughed.

_No, some crazy guy we picked up on the way here, _Anakin said in a silent voice only Jaina and I could hear. _He obviously can't aim, though._

"I can see that," Jaina's voice came over the comm. "Oh, look! The _Wild Karrde_! I think we might just win this skirmish."

"I don't think so, _Jeedai_," said a familiar, sinister voice.

"Nom Anor!" Anakin hissed.

"That's correct, little _Jeedai_. I have finally found a way to intercept your infidel communications."

"That's great," I said through clenched teeth. "Maybe you'll tell us which ship is yours so that I can blast it into a billion pieces. I am the Jedi-who-was-shaped, Nom Anor, and I don't plan on dying."

"Nice one, Tahiri!" Jake's voice came over loud and clear. I winced. I didn't need some… _outsider_ intruding at a time like this.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the _Wild Karrde_. If you seek assistance, identify yourself."

"This is Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila, on the _Jedi Dream_. Jaina Solo is on the X-Wing. We could really use some help right now! We've just discovered that Nom Anor is on one of these coralskippers. Mind giving us a hand getting rid of some slime?"

"Not at all, Jedi," Shada D'ukal's voice came through. "Let's get rid of some Yuuzhan Vong scum!"

We fought and fought, and succeeded in driving back the Yuuzhan Vong… until…

"Hi, I'm really not quite sure what I'm doing here, but I think that Nom Anor wants to use my buddy and me as ransom. Basically, if you don't fall back or something, then they'll kill me. Now, I know that you don't know me, but I'm not too disposed toward dying, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep fighting."

We all began to talk.

"Casualties happen," Shada pointed out.

"Kill to kill again," Jaina agreed.

"Maybe there's a way out of it," Talon Karrde said thoughtfully.

"There is no way," Anakin said harshly. "If we kill Nom Anor, then the captive will die, no matter what. His fate is sealed."

"Wait," someone interrupted. It was Jake. "That's my friend they've got. Please don't kill him. Would you willingly let your best friend die?"

And the boy's fate was then sealed. After all, we all had lost friends since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion had begun, and we weren't about to let someone else's friend die…


	7. Interlude

ANNIE

I am Annie Mull Luvre. I control the gateway between the Milky Way galaxy and the Star Wars galaxy, along with Basi Lisker. And something had gone terribly wrong.

When the bird and the Andalite had first passed through the gateway, it had been such a small tremor, we hadn't noticed. After a few times, Basi noticed them. We decided to move the gateway.

But we hadn't moved it in time. The bird and the Andalite both made it through one more time- along with five others. We tried to turn them around, but it was too late. We managed to turn two of them ninety degrees, and slow down four others. But they all made it through the gateway.

The Andalite, Aldrea, went through the gateway with the bird, Tobias. But Aldrea was rescued by the Jedi Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, whereas Tobias was sucked back into the gateway. The strange way that he was positioned ensured that rather than returning to his galaxy, Tobias ended up on Zonama Sekot…

BASI

I watched the Animorphs' adventures with detached interest. They couldn't come home. I knew that. It had been bad enough when it was just Aldrea and Tobias, but now this meant that none could return. With a phantom finger, I reached over and shut the gateway on the Milky Way side. This meant that Annie and I could never return home.

We had grown up apart, never aware that we were gatekeepers. After fourteen years, Annie and I had met. We had taken control over the gateway from its previous keepers, and now easily controlled it.

But we were from Earth, and could never return.

And the vindictive previous keepers knew that we were trapped in the same galaxy as they were.

Annie left to Zonama Sekot. But I had somewhere else in mind…


	8. Of Gatekeepers and Planets

TOBIAS

"Tobias," Elfangor called. "Come here."

I came. I didn't know how Elfangor had come here, alive, but frankly, I didn't care. I was separated from all my friends, and would gratefully seize any chance to be with anyone I knew, no questions asked.

Elfangor pointed to a small cave in the distance. "You can spend the night there. It appears to be safe."

"What about you?" I demanded.

"I don't need that sort of thing."

"Uh-uh. I know some Andalites and they also need shelter."

Elfangor looked surprised. "You mean you don't know?"

"Don't know wha-" My voice trailed off.

A girl was running up the hill, bright-eyed and hyper. But what stunned me were her clothes.

I had met many people from this galaxy, and as far as I knew, none of them wore long jean skirts and shirts from Old Navy. But this girl did. As I squinted down at her, I saw that she was tall, with brown hair a little longer than shoulder-length. She looked as stunned as I did.

"Tobias?" she asked timidly.

"That's me," I said guardedly. "Who are you?"

"Annie Mull Luvre. I'm your biggest fan!"

"Since when do I have fans?" I asked crossly.

"Forget it. Where's Sekot?"

"Sekot? Sekot who?"

She's talking about me," Elfangor said quietly. "I am not your father. I merely assumed his shape. I am really Sekot, the living intelligence of this planet."

"So you just pretended that you were what you were not?" I demanded angrily.

"It was necessary," Annie said sharply. "Now isn't the time to argue. The gateway between the galaxies has closed. There's no way out."

Sekot glared at Annie. "I knew that it was a mistake to make you the gatekeeper."

"It wasn't like you made me the gatekeeper. I seized control from you and your partner." Annie's face darkened. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything better."

"How would you know?" I had asked the question.

They both turned toward me, surprised.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now," I said before they could start arguing again. "Let's just find a way to open it again."

Sekot and Annie both burst out laughing. Then they realized that they were both laughing and stopped abruptly.

"You can't just open a gateway. You have to make a new one," Annie told me. "For that, you need many gatekeepers, and the original gatekeepers' approval. My co-gatekeeper, Basi, closed up the gateway and won't want it opened."

"Basi always was a stubborn one," Sekot said thoughtfully. "Where's she now?" While Annie had been talking, it had been talking, it had transformed into a young boy with a braid hanging down his back.

"She went to the other former gatekeeper."

"Ah." Sekot became an avian alien with colorful feathers.

I stared. "What is that?"

"Haven't you ever seen a Fosh? Namely, the one to whom Basi went. You know- Vergere!"


	9. Skulking and Scheming

A/N: I see that people are confused, so here's the summary: The Animorphs have passed into a white hole to the Star Wars galaxy, only they're all separated. Jake and Cassie are with Jedi Anakin Solo and Tahari Veila, Rachel teams up with politician Viqi Shesh, Marco and Ax have been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tzavong Lah, and the dead Hork-Bajir Aldrea finds herself in her former Andalite self with Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. At the same time, the keepers of the gateway between the Star Wars and Animorph worlds, Basi and Annie, discover the way the Animorphs are wreaking havoc in the Star Wars galaxy, and Basi closes the gateway. The two gatekeepers are trapped away from their home on Earth, in the Star Wars galaxy. Annie goes to Zonama Sekot, where the planetary intelligence, Sekot, one of the former gatekeepers resides. Sekot is with Tobias, and has assumed the shape of Elfangor. The three discuss making a new gateway, but can't do anything without Basi's assent. Basi had gone to the other ex-gatekeeper, Vergere…

NOM ANOR

I didn't tell any of my minions about my new plot- not even Binra Kel, my new assistant. She was trustworthy and loyal to me, not to mention almost as crafty and scheming as I was. But the scheming ones were usually the most dangerous, and I didn't trust even Binra with something as big as this.

I had always hated Vergere, but I could never get away with killing her, and nothing I did convinced Warmaster Tzavong Lah of her treachery. But I now had a plan that would move the Fosh straight into the afterlife.

I crept into Vergere's quarters, taking care not to let anyone see me. I knew Vergere wasn't around- she was with the two new prisoners, Picard and Data, trying to squeeze some information out of them. The Yammosk had gone mad after trying to read their minds, and the prisoners were both put into the Embrace of Pain. They hadn't done anything but scream when I had interrogated them, and I doubted Vergere could do better.

I searched the fresher, looking for some feathers. I found two lying on the floor, and one in Vergere's bed, when there was a whoosh and someone appeared directly in front of me.

"You're not Vergere," a feminine voice accused.

"Nor are you," I replied cautiously. My ooglith masquer concealed my features, but if she overpowered me, I would be revealed instantly.

"How would you know, Nom Anor?" the voice sounded amused. I froze. How did she know who I was? And who was she?

I thought fast. "I'm sorry, but I'm Temal Rin. Who are you?"

"Have it your way, Nom Anor… Temal. I'm Tzavong Lah's twin sister, returning as a ghost to destroy him and take his place!"

"Stop mocking me! Tell me your name!"

"Sure. On some worlds they call my friend and me "Dveykeblechlicho". On others, I'm known as Lumitiknarava or Lpergeotltaysbgoryeneontldeuahf. I just like to be called the Gatekeeper."

I stared. A legendary Gatekeeper, standing in front of me! They had brought my people through a gateway and trapped us until finally letting us out in this galaxy. And here was one of them!

"No, I didn't stick you Vong in the Gateway," the Gatekeeper said as if she had read my mind. "The Gatekeepers before me had done that. I believe you know at least one of them."

"That would be me," Vergere said dryly from behind us.

I spun around. The Gatekeeper reached over and touched a spot next to my left nostril, and the ooglith masquer peeled off of me, revealing my true identity.

"Nom Anor. I should've known," Vergere said, staring at the three feathers in my hand. "Planning on setting free the captives and framing me? You are too predictable." She nodded at the Gatekeeper. "Basi, if you don't mind?…

Before I could stop her, the Gatekeeper had snatched the feathers out of my hands. I hardly noticed.

"Vergere, you were a Gatekeeper!"

She nodded ruefully. "Basi here and Annie took my job. Sekot, my partner, hates them and the feeling is mutual, but Basi and I parted on good terms."

"If you don't mind, Vergere, I think I'll wipe his memory now." Basi glared at me.

"Do that." Vergere smiled.

"Wait," I interjected. "I'm not anxious to lose my memory, and I'd be a big help to you, I'm sure."

After much more convincing, I was finally permitted to come with them, along with Binra Kel. I'd always tried to stick with the biggest powers, and nothing topped a Gatekeeper.

Much to Vergere's chagrin and my delight, Basi agreed to let me get some supplies before leaving with them. I packed a villip, an ooglith masquer, and other utilities. You could never be too careful…


End file.
